Savage
She-Hulk #3Savage
She-Hulk #3
Title: “She-Hulk Murders Lady Lawyer"
Writer: David Anthony Kraft
Artist: Mike Vosburg, Chic Stone
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Editor: Mary Jo Duffy & Al Milgrom
The Los Angeles
Tribune edition proclaims Jennifer Walters' murder at the hands
of the emerald amazon, She-Hulk. Meanwhile in jail, the three
hoodlums who first tried to kill Jennifer are considering
recanting their testimony since they believe Jennifer can no
longer press charges against them. The third thug insists it
won't matter anyway...Trask will kill them because they were
willing to testify. He's right. Two green hand burst through the
stone walls and attack the men. By the time the guards burst in
it is too late. The men are dead and the dying words of the last
man apparently implicates the She-Hulk: "Those hands...those
horrible green hands!" Now the She-Hulk is wanted for four
murders.
In a secluded beach house situated on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Jennifer Walters is tossing and turning in bed recklessly. Her hair seems a little longer than usual, and it's impossible to determine her skin color, so one can't tell if she's changing into or from the She-Hulk. Anyway, in Jennifer's nightmare, she is reliving the attempt on her life that first transformed her into the She-Hulk. In Jennifer's dream, she is furious, and willing to hurt her would-be killers severely.
She wakes up as Jen Walters. Jen wonders if she was the She-Hulk. Since her nightmare was so vivid, she is afraid that she may have gone prowling outside as the She-Hulk and forgotten it as Jen Walters. Zapper comes in to check on her since he heard her scream. It turns out that she is hiding in the beach house owned by his parents. Zapper thinks it is merely the strain of the trial, the attempts on her life, and the death of her best friend Jill that is the cause of her bad dream, but it is far more than that. And now Jennifer is wondering if her alter ego poses a threat to Zapper's life. At this point, Buck Bukowski bursts into the room. He just learned about the deaths of the three hoodlums in the L.A. County jail. Characteristically, he has come to gloat about how he's going to put Lou Monkton back on trial again because the three dead men can no longer affirm their testimony in court. But since she was just dreaming about punishing those very men, Jennifer thinks that she may very well have killed them as the She-Hulk. The shock of seeing the headline of the paper increases her heartbeat and blood pressure. She runs out of the room before either Buck or Zapper can see her turn into the She-Hulk. Zapper rebukes Buck for his rudeness, and Buck responds by saying that if Jen can't take the heat, she should stay out of the kitchen. Zapper goes off to look for Jennifer, but she has already become the She-Hulk, determined to discover what is really going on.
Meanwhile, Jake the truck driver, whom Trask tried to kill, has snuck into a phone booth. He begs his wiseguy friend "Weasel" to help him out. Weasel is reluctant to help, but agrees when Jake offers seventy five percent of every delivery he hijacks. An arrangement is made to pick up Jake at Jumbo's Junkyard (probably a competitor of "Monster Joe's Truck and Toe") at midnight. Unfortunately for Weasel, Trask has anticipated this phone call and his pet cobra quickly takes care of Weasel. As Weasel dies, Trask picks up the paper he was reading which has a headline of the She-Hulk murdering the three hoods. This gives him an idea, and he tells his men to bring Weasel's body with him.
At the L.A. County Sheriff's office, Morris Walters has been locked in his office for hours, refusing to see anyone, not eating or sleeping. Finally, he comes out and issues orders to stop the She-Hulk at all costs. His men note how cold, distant, and emotionless he seems. However, once he is back inside the confines of his office, Morris breaks down and vows vengeance on the She-Hulk for killing his little Jenny, even if he has to do it face to face!
While Morris mourns his daughter's death, Jennifer, as the She-Hulk, has returned to Trask's Ventura Blvd. warehouse which she passed the other day. She gets there in time to see Trask's goons stuff Weasel's body into the trunk of their car and overhears them discuss going to Jimbo's Warehouse by midnight. They also mention bringing a camera, but She-Hulk overlooks this seemingly trivial detail. She isn't fast enough to overtake the car, but since She-Hulk knows where Jimbo's is located, she plans to intercept them and find out once and for all what Trask is up to.
Midnight. Jake sneaks into Jimbo's and it looks like the coast is clear. He sees Weasel's car and breathes a sigh of relief until he opens the door and discovers Weasel's corpse. Jake now knows he's been set up by Trask, and that his death is imminent. He turns around just in time to see a powerful green arm grab his throat. Only Jake knows the truth about what he sees, but he takes that secret with him to the grave.
Much later, an exhausted She-Hulk finally returns to the beach house. She stands outside the patio window and waits until she has changed back to Jen Walters before calling Zapper, who is appropriately watching a horror movie on TV. He turns around and asks Jen where she has been all night, since he's been worried sick. Jen ducks the question and says she went wandering on the beach and got lost. The phone rings and Jennifer goes to pick it up. Zapper says the phone has been ringing all night, but that the caller hangs up whenever he picks up. When Jen picks up, she hears her client Lou Monkton who claims to have important evidence that will finish Trask, but he doesn't know where to take it. Jen gives him the address of the beach house and Monkton tells her he'll drop it off later that evening. Jen does not know that Monkton has a gun pointed at his head as he makes the phone call.
Jennifer changes into more presentable shirt and shorts and watches TV with Zapper. He urges her not to be tense, but she is still uneasy and unsure about her alter ego. The newscast is interrupted by a special broadcast by her father. He directs his message at the She-Hulk and urges her to surrender. He shows a picture of the She-Hulk holding Jakes body and declares her to be "a kill-crazy animal, fit only to be hunted down and shot in the street like a dog!" Jen screams in horror and runs to the bathroom. She remembers holding the body as the She-Hulk and is convinced that her alter ego has become a ruthless killer. Unfortunately, the shock of seeing that photo has triggered her metamorphosis. Desperately she cracks open a bottle of sleeping pills as her skin turns green, her hair grows longer, and her clothing grows tighter. She swallows more and more pills until finally she collapses and changes back to Jen Walters. Zapper bursts in and only sees that she has taken an overdose. As he takes her to the couch he overhears her mutter "...can't become the She-Hulk again....can't hurt Zapper..." Finally, Zapper realizes the truth behind Jennifer's strange behavior. He uses his med skills to intervene to save Jennifer's life...probably by inducing vomiting. After several minutes, he manages to pull her from the brink and the two have a heart-to-heart discussion about the She-Hulk.
Zapper asks Jen why she didn't confide in him, since he believes he could have helped. She thinks nobody can help her and is determined to surrender to her father to prevent her alter ego from murdering more people. Zapper is convinced that it isn't in Jennifer's makeup to kill anybody, even as the She-Hulk and urges her to force herself to transform in order to find out the truth. Jen replies that that was what she was trying to do earlier that evening and the only thing that resulted was another innocent man getting killed. Jennifer is determined to turn herself in as soon as the Monkton trial is over.
Their argument is interrupted when the real killer barges
in---a bulky green robot wearing a wig resembling She-Hulk's
hair. This is an obsolete prototype designed by Tony Stark for
heavy industrial work, but it is remarkably effective in its new
job of strangling victims, which it proceeds to do to Zapper when
he tries to defend Jennifer. Jen tries to get off the sofa to get
help, but she is too weak from the drugs. So she has no choice
but to do the one thing she swore she would never do again...
change into the She-Hulk. Jennifer tries to force the
metamorphosis, but she is still sluggish from the sleeping pills
she took earlier... Zapper is on the verge of losing
consciousness when a familiar green fist severs the robot's arm
and sets him free. Jennifer has succeeded in changing into the
She-Hulk, and she's pissed off that somebody has been trying to
frame her for murder. The robot punches her out the balcony
over the cliff to the rocks below. As She-Hulk tries to get up,
the robot jumps on top of her and tries to drown her in the
Pacific Ocean. Off-balance, She-Hulk is unable to break the
robot's grip directly, but she manages to throw her arms backward
and create a mini-tidal wave that knock the robot away. But the
wave has done much more than save her from drowning. The wave
also washed away the green coating of paint and reveal the
robot's original color which was orange. She-Hulk suddenly
remembers catching a glimpse of an orange hand when she was
running outside Trask's warehouse when she was trying to save
Jill. Realizing that it was Nick Trask who was behind all
of this, 
She-Hulk
explodes in fury and unleashes a punch so powerful, it
decapitates the robot. But She-Hulk isn't done yet. She picks up
the robot's head and vows that she is going to have revenge
against the man who killed both her mother and best friend. Nick
Trask had better watch out... the She-Hulk is coming!
Site for Sore Eyes rating: 9 out of 10
Confession---this issue happens to be the very first She-Hulk that I ever read, so I'm probably a little biased here. Still, this is a very good story and one of the best ones in the series. Up to now, becoming the She-Hulk has been very convenient for Jennifer. Her green alter ego saved her life at the hospital, and it almost helped her save Jill's life last issue. Knowing she has the She-Hulk as an ace up her sleeve enables Jen to take a chance and do some risky things that otherwise she might pass up on---like meeting Nick Trask alone in his warehouse in issue #2. However, the She-Hulk doesn't think or act the same way as Jennifer does, and in this issue we see she has serious doubts about her alter ego. For the first time, Jennifer finds herself changing into the She-Hulk when she doesn't want to, She will have more and more of these "inconvenient" changes, and they will play havoc with her personal life as she tries to keep her identity as the She-Hulk a secret. DAK leads the reader to believe that perhaps the She-Hulk might have been responsible for the murders, and he manages to build up good suspense until the very last page. But once the secret about the robot is revealed, all the self-doubt Jennifer formerly had would completely vanish. For all of her problems that her alter ego would cause her in the future, Jennifer would never again doubt that her alter ego would do the right thing. Jen may seek to control her transformations, but unlike Bruce, she will never seek a cure. We will also see the She-Hulk begin to develop a more distinct personality from Jen and more conflicts between the two start to rise. For writing, I'm rating this 5 out of 5. The artwork is improving, but I'm still only rating it a 4 out of 5. I know that Mike Vosburg will improve later in the series, so I'm holding back a star. Here the She-Hulk is still drawn more scary than beautiful. Jen is looking better, but she still could use a little improvement. I like the green halo we see in this issue as a signal to the reader that Jennifer is changing. Too bad it was dropped for subsequent issues. Incidentally, I think there are more transformations (both on and off-panel) in this issue than any other in the series. For this reason alone, it's worth hunting for on ebay!
Leader's Lair rating: 7 out of 10
Eddie might be a little biased, but I understand. The plot is intriguing. Normally I get a little upset because of the lame villains She-Hulk has to encounter, but as her first villain, Trask has special dispensation. Sending a robot after Jen might seem a little cliche, but for a local mob boss it's a pretty good move. Vosburg does a decent job with storytelling, but the lack of style keeps him at an adequate 3 out of 5.
Review by Eddie Cunningham
Pictures by The Leader